


Doomsday

by ao_no_uma



Series: On the other side of the wall [1]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, M/M, insipred by Doctor Who episode, post-TFA
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2017-01-22
Packaged: 2018-09-19 05:58:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9421544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ao_no_uma/pseuds/ao_no_uma
Summary: Firing Starkiller caused unexpected consequences.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jeusus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeusus/gifts).



> For Jeusus, talented artist and wonderful human being.
> 
> Huge thanks to my beta Jathis!
> 
>  
> 
> Inspiration: : http://jeusus.tumblr.com/post/152746755778/mewlicent-replied-to-your-photoset

‘Something’s wrong.’

Hux looks up with a questioning face.

‘In the Force. I meditated for most of the day, and something’s different. Unnatural. Spoiled.’

Hux scoffs in answer. Though he knows Ren, his abilities and how useful the Force could be, he still doesn’t have patience to listen Ren’s babbling about a mystical power connecting all living things and influencing their lives.

They are lying together in Hux’s bed on their sides, facing each other, Hux slowly stroking the knight’s dark hair. Since Ren’s comeback from training with Snoke, about standard month ago, they spent nearly every night together.

‘So what? What does this mean, that something in the Force is off?’, Hux asks, trying not to sound too bored.

‘I don’t know yet. But it can’t be good.’

Ren turns on his back, away from Hux, and stares at ceiling with an unfocused gaze.

‘Maybe it has something to do with Skywalker, or this girl?…’ Hux offers.

‘No, I’m sure about it.  It’s not about any simple presence, it’s… Like everything has shifted a bit.’

This time Hux can’t stop himself from rolling eyes. Ren glares at him angrily, knitting his brows together.

‘Okay, buckethead. Imagine you come to your quarters after a shift, and in a second you know someone was here. At first everything looks fine, but you notice your things aren’t in their places, even if they’re moved by just a hair. It’s that kind of “something’s wrong”.’

‘Okay, I see it now.’

Ren turns to the ceiling again, still sulking.

Hux sighs and moves his hand to play with Ren’s hair again. ‘I’m sorry?’

‘No, you’re not. After all I’ve shown you, and let you feel in my head, you still think the Force is child’s play, magic tricks good for interrogations and fighting.’

Hux scoots to cling to the knight’s side and kisses his cheek. ‘It’s because I was raised to believe in science. I’m too old to change my customs.’

Ren chuckles, but the sound quickly turns into silence again.

‘I mean it, Hux. It can’t be anything good. It’s worrying.’

‘I understand, Kylo. But, unless you know something more, how about you stop thinking about it?’

Ren finally turns back to Hux and smirks. ‘Like you never think of your work in bed.’

Hux smirks back. ‘Shall I show you of what I think in bed?

*          *

‘Something’s wrong, sir.’

Hux looks quizzically at the head of the research department, one of two dozen scientists working on Starkiller project, evacuated in a first shuttle when the planet started to collapse.

‘What do you mean by “wrong”?’

‘Our wide band sensors are detecting abnormal signals coming from deep space. We checked them three times, and every time we got the same results. We can’t compare them to anything. Readings are similar to the black hole’s, but we are detecting the signal across the half of galaxy, which is impossible. We have several theories, but we can’t prove any of them.’

‘What kind of theories are we speaking of?’

‘Well, sir, as you know, the universe is built of atoms, but atoms aren’t the smallest particles…’

‘I finished the advanced physics course at academy. I know what subatomic particles are.’

‘Right. So, we think Starkiller’s shot has released such an amount of energy it has affected the very matter of the universe, on strings level, and we observe events that have never occurred earlier.’

Hux nods. ‘Should we be worried about those novel events?’

‘It’s hard to predict, sir. We still don’t fully understand the nature of it.’

‘I understand. Notify me of any progress in this matter.’

‘Yes sir.’

The scientist nods politely and leaves the office. Hux sighs and massages his temple with two fingers. He is used to dealing with officers, soldiers, technicians, accountants or diverse merchants and smugglers. His experience with physics is vast too, mostly thanks to Starkiller project; he created weapon’s first blueprints before he even became an officer, and later this project granted him rapid promotion up to the general’s title. 

But even with his complex scientific education, Hux has a hard time processing what he has just heard. Starkiller fired the exact, calculated amount of energy – unimaginable, but still finite. All possible consequences of releasing an energy of a whole star was predicted and described by the team of twenty scientists. It simply cannot be possible that the weapon has changed something in the structure of universe. None of humanity’s inventions can do it.

Yet, it seems that his weapon was able to.

Gentle beeping signaling someone’s waiting outside the office stops Hux’s train of thought. The general presses the button on the console to open the door and sees the brooding silhouette of the knight of Ren.

‘General.’

‘Ren. To what do I owe the pleasure?’

Kylo doesn’t wait for invitation, he takes off his helmet and sits in front of Hux.

‘I was meditating. Searching answers for questions we spoke of earlier.’

‘Oh. And have you found them?’

‘Not yet, unfortunately. I told my master through the meditation about my concerns but he didn’t answer.’

A little crease appears between Hux’s brows.

‘That’s… Unusual, I suppose.’

‘Oh, no, it’s not unusual. My master likes to challenge my abilities, encourage me to find the solutions myself.’

Hux nods. They rarely speak about Snoke, even though Kylo assured him many times that no one can overhear their conversations, even with the Force. Still, Supreme Leader was an unspoken taboo.

‘Has something pressing occurred, Ren? You rarely pay me such an official visit.’

Ren stares at him intensely. They may use stiff formal words like they always do outside their quarters, but Hux learned a long time ago how much Kylo can say with his eyes. Now he sees concern, an emotion so seldom shown by the knight. Hux thinks he has never seen Ren concerned about anything else than his missions or general’s health.

‘I know you spoke about this problem with someone else,’ Ren says quietly.

Hux squints his eyes. ‘So what?’

‘I guess you consider my words more seriously now, don’t you, general?’

‘I think you exaggerate, Ren. Until you or my scientists are sure what’s happening, I decide not to panic in advance.’

Kylo leans forward, his face blank and black eyes like two glowing coals casting intense stare. ‘In advance, you say? It’s because you can’t hear the scream of the universe like it’s being torn apart.’

Hux searches Ren’s face for a hint, a key to understanding the metaphor Kylo used a few times when speaking about himself. Before Hux answers, the knight stands and leaves the room, his cape billowing around his silhouette.

That evening Ren doesn’t come to Hux’s quarters as usual, but the general knows they have to end their conversation sometime. Hux takes a walk to the deck one level above his quarters. Ren’s room is the only one occupied in the corridor. Hux knows the code to the door, but he decides to knock and wait. The door opens silently. The knight is sitting on a bed with straight legs and closed eyes, visibly relaxed.

 _Do I disturb you?_ , Hux asks in his mind, knowing Ren is listening. Ren always hears his thoughts if they’re directed toward him.

_Do you think I would let you come in if you did?_

Kylo opens his eyes and looks at Hux. ‘What do you want?’

‘We haven’t finished the talk.’

‘I don’t know what you want to talk about. You think I’m panicking about some Force nonsense. Am I wrong?’

Hux sits on the edge of the bed near Ren’s feet and reaches for the knight’s hand with his own, lacing their fingers together.

‘Kylo. You know the Order has a hard time. We’re trying to form short and long-term plans, secure the shipments of weapon and supplies, and searching for a trump card in the fight with the Republic and Resistance. I don’t know if I can spare a minute to marvel at some physics phenomenon that occurred nearly a year ago. The scientist doesn’t even know what it is.’

While speaking, Hux slowly moves his fingers to massage Ren’s big, calloused ones. He is aware Ren often compares their hands when they lie together in bed, when Ren thinks Hux is asleep (he isn’t).

Kylo looks down at their hands. He closes both of his around Hux’s slender one and moves them to his face to kiss Hux’s fingertips.

‘I don’t know what’s happening too, but it’s nothing good’, he whispers to their hands. ‘I know you don’t believe in predicting the future, even with the Force, but when I meditate about it… It feels like the oncoming storm. Danger we should run away from as fast and far as we can.’

Kylo used similar words earlier. Right before the feral mission on Jakku that had changed everything.

‘What can I do for you, Kylo?’

‘Stay. Please.’

Hux leans closer and lets their foreheads touch.

_Do you need to share?_

When the Force maelstrom whirling inside him had become unbearable, Ren used to spend long hours in his gym (not exactly _his_ , because it serves all officers living in this level, but the knight is now the only occupant) forcing himself to exercise with weights or sword until the storm ceased, dangerously near the point of fainting. After months of sleeping together and getting closer and closer to each other, one night Ren finally invited Hux inside his head and let him feel his struggle between the Light and Dark Side. He was still afraid Hux would mock him about his weakness, but Hux only asked if Kylo shared the pain with him, would it be more bearable.

Now Kylo shakes his head in reply. They sit like this for more than an hour, and when they get tired they strip and lay to sleep, entwined.

*          *

Kylo doesn’t mention this subject again. Hux spends the next few days overwhelmed with work, busy as hell, not having time to consider the problem. Not until he is called to the docks.

‘We have captured a Republic’s courier ship’ lieutenant Mitaka reports proudly, standing behind his general. Hux observes as two pilots walk out of a small ship, hands in the air. Four stormtroopers approach and search them and a group of another six soldiers enter the vessel carefully.

‘Anything else?’

‘Not yet sir. It’s not an usual transit route, our technicians need to search their computer for coordinates of their start and destination. The intelligence has the interrogation rooms prepared and specialists will extract data from ship’s hard drives as soon as we connect to its computer.’

‘Very well. I expect notification about the progress.’

‘Of course sir.’

Mitaka salutes and leaves. Hux stays for a little longer, watching the terrified pilots being led toward the interrogation rooms.

General Hux doesn’t even reach his office when he’s summoned again, this time to prison level.

‘What’s happening?’ Hux spits, glaring at the chief of intelligence. She is aged, a dutiful officer and she knows her job; Hux is more than glad to have her in this department. Now she is obviously nervous, her hands holding a pad shaking slightly.

‘Sir… It seems… After the initial search of the courier’s database…’ the officer stutters under Hux’s angry glower. She takes a deep breath and finishes, ‘They are from Hosnian Prime.’

Hux jerks.

She adds: ‘What’s more, they departed three days ago. When they were asked about the current political situation, both of them separately stated the whole galaxy is the Republic, with a central government currently residing on the Hosnian Prime, everyone lives in peace and they haven’t heard anything about the First Order or Resistance. Our scanners confirmed they tell the truth.’

Hux stares at her for few long seconds, not even trying to hide his shock. Finally he asks: ‘How is it possible?’

‘We’re still working on it. I called you because I thought you may want to interrogate them yourself, sir.’

‘Yes I want to. When can I go?’

‘Now, sir.’

She points to the door at the end of corridor. In the room, on the chair near the far wall from the entrance awaits a scared pilot, the younger of the two. Hux sits on the other chair near the door, facing the pilot, aware of multiple hidden devices used to control the prisoner - to monitor their physical status or shoot them if they attack the interrogator.

‘What’s your name?’ the general asks in a neutral tone.

‘Druan Cachat.’

‘Do my subordinates treat you well, Druan?’

‘N-no one has hurt me yet’ the pilot stammers. He’s visibly trembling, and Hux makes a mental note to send him to the medic after they finish.

‘Were you flying from the Hosnian system?’

The man gulps and looks on the ground, considering a reply. Finally, he nods.

‘Can you say it loudly, please?’

‘Yes, we are from Hosnian.’

‘When did you depart from the system?’

‘Three and half standard days ago.’

‘What was your destination?’

‘Who the hell are you?! Why do you detain us?!’ the man jumps to his feet. Hux hears the barely audible click of a hidden gun ready to kill the prisoner.

‘Sit or we will sedate you’ Hux commands, his voice calm and quiet like a cosmic void.

The pilot looks around and sits heavily, glowering.

‘What was your destination, Druan?’ Hux asks again, his voice still collected.

‘Yavin IV’ the pilot mutters. ‘Will you tell me who are you?’

‘I’m general Hux of First Order, but I think it tells you nothing.’

‘General Hux? I only heard of Brendol Hux, imprisoned after the fall of the Empire for some nasty experiments conducted in his academy. Rumor says he drilled his only son to death in his school.’

Hux can’t suppress a flinch. He only hopes the prisoner hasn’t seen it.

‘And First Order? Who are you? Some junta?’ Cachat continues.

Hux needs a moment to make up a diplomatic response. ‘We support worlds that are dissatisfied with the Republic’s politics.’

The other man nods, but he doesn’t look convinced. Hux doesn’t let it disturb him. ‘How was Hosnian when you were leaving?’

‘Like always. Crowded. Loud. Full of politicians.’

Hux nods. ‘Leia Organa, have you heard about her?’

‘Of course! Everyone knows her, she’s famous in the whole galaxy! I’ve heard she’s taken a leave to meet her son, at the Jedi academy, or whatever it’s called.’

‘Jedi academy?’ Hux shivers again. The pilot nods in reply. ‘Yes… And who awaits for those messages on Yavin?’

The pilot regains some courage and shakes his head. ‘I won’t tell. I know sooner or later you will read all our messages but I won’t tell you anything.’

‘I see’ Hux stands and leaves the frightened pilot. Outside the room already waits head of intelligence. ‘Monitor his status. Send him a med if needed.’ he orders.

‘Yes sir. Do you want to interrogate the other pilot?’

‘Not now. Inform me of the progress with extracting data.’

She salutes as the general walks away.

He needs to think about it thoroughly. It seems that this ‘physics phenomenon’ thing is much more urgent than he imagined.

*          *

‘Stars, Ren, you used your personal comm! Has someone died?’

‘Hux, your shift started 10 minutes ago and you’re not on the bridge.’

‘So what? My bridge officers are fully capable, they don’t need me to supervise their every move.’

‘Hux. I know you. You’re always on time, and you’ve barely been out of your quarters for the last two days. I can hear you’re exhausted. Have you slept at least six hours? I guess you skipped your meals too.’

‘I have work, Ren. It was you who blamed me for underestimating problems. I try to find a solution.’

‘Don’t you have a bunch of scientists to do it?’

‘Yes, but they don’t know as much as I do.’

‘I know. Everyone knows.’ A few beats of silence. ‘But please, get some rest.’

Ren hangs up.

The next day, after another sleepless night, Hux gives an order to change _Finalizer_ ’s route toward the Hosnian system.

Ren comes to the bridge three minutes later.

‘Are you sure?’ the knight asks quietly, stopping close enough that only Hux hears him.

‘Yes Ren. I want to have a look at this anomaly.’ Hux replies silently too.

‘I warned you. We’d better stay away from it as far as we can.’

‘And I think we must take care of it.’

‘High command approved it?’

‘They don’t have enough power to recall my decisions. _Finalizer_ is under my command and I can order it to fly wherever I think it’s needed unless there are direct orders from Supreme Leader.’

‘And captain Harrington hasn’t even asked for a reason?’

‘You know him Ren. He’s an exemplary officer and doesn’t have a custom to question orders.’

Ren turns his head to look directly into Hux’s eyes. He curses his mask, with it’s visor and vocorder making reading Ren’s mood impossible.

 _I don’t like this_ , Hux hears in his mind. _But I’m with you._

_Thank you Ren._

*          *

The flight to Hosnian takes three days. Hux spends most of the time trying to deal with the Order’s unfinished businesses. Evenings belong to Ren, but something’s different – their encounters are slow, gentle, somehow tender like never before. Afterward, when they aren’t talking, Ren is mostly silent, staring blankly or with his eyes shut.

‘What’s wrong?’ Hux asks the final night before arrival, lying naked atop Ren. ‘Don’t tell me “nothing”, I can see you pouting even now.’

Ren sighs. ‘The closer we are, the louder everything in me screams not to go there. But on the other hand, I feel – I know – there’s something ill. Something that must be cured. Though I don’t know if we are the right people to treat it.’

Hux scoffs and marks invisible patterns with his fingertip on the skin of Ren’s pectoral. ‘Yeah. This is a war vessel and we fly to check some physics abnormality. I think I’m losing my mind. And you, Kylo? Do you think I’ve become crazy?’

‘You’re babbling’ the knight pecks Hux’s forehead. Hux turns his head to look at Ren with hazy eyes. Ren smiles sadly and opens his mouth, but before he says anything he shuts it.

‘You’re a weird beast, Kylo Ren.’ Hux whispers and scoots to lie by Ren’s side and in a second he falls asleep. Ren gives him one more kiss on a cheek and mindlessly pets red hair, unable to sleep.

*          *

There’s still nearly half an hour to arrival and Hux is already present on the bridge. He walks among officers’ stations, randomly asking questions to make up for the last few days of his absence on the bridge. Ten minutes before arrival Ren comes, five minutes later – chief of research. Hux wants him by his side when they come to Hosnian, while the rest of his team will take care of scanning the surroundings.

When Mitaka counts the last seconds, Hux wants to take hold of Ren’s hand.

‘Leaving hyperspace in three, two, one, now.’

‘What the h…’ some officer curses.

Everyone present on the bridge gasps. Through the large viewports they see black space marred with a crackling thin golden ring like a band of searing metal. Inside the ring, a sun and a group of distant planets are visible.

The bridge is completely silent.

‘What is this, some kind of portal?’ someone whispers.

‘Do you have an idea what it could be?’ Hux asks the scientist.

‘Not a hint’ the man stutters in reply, gawking at the viewport. 

Hux turns to look at Ren. The knight is still, watching the landscape. Hux feels the air around Kylo thicken, the sign of him being distressed. General Hux also notices Ren’s clenched fists and his urge to grab them is unbearable.

Ren turns at his heels and dashes away from the bridge.

‘Our readings of current position confirm we are in a neighborhood of Hosnian system’ Mitaka’s voice break the silence.

‘Sir… Excuse me, I’ll join my team and send you any result we get’ the scientist mumbles nervously.

‘Yes, of course, go ahead’ Hux replies quickly.

‘What are your orders, sir?’ the question comes from captain Harrington.

‘Reduce the speed and stay near this thing. If any scientist requests changing the distance for their scans I’ll inform you.’

Captain salutes in answer.

Hux looks once again at the golden ring. He nods toward the captain and unhurriedly leaves the bridge. He immediately takes a route to Ren’s room, helps himself with the door and without hesitance he walks to the bed, where Ren sits curled on himself. Hux perches near him and gathers him in an embrace.

‘I’m here’ he whispers, threading his fingers into Ren’s hair. ‘I’m with you.’

Kylo whines and leans into Hux’ arms. Hux makes small circles with his fingertips, gently massaging the skin of Ren’s head.

‘Do it, Kylo. Share with me’ Hux requests, finishing the sentence in his mind, hoping Kylo can’t hear it: “ _because I can’t stand watching you suffering_ ”.

He grimaces when the pain comes, though he knows it’s only a small part of what Kylo really feels. They sit like this for a long time, listening to the Force screaming in agony.

*          *

It’s less than 30 hours after arrival when Hux calls a meeting. He watches the people gathered around the elliptic table of the conference room: Ren, chiefs of research and intelligence and captain Harrington. He stands up and clears his throat:

‘Ladies, gentlemen, let’s get straight to the topic’ general starts. ‘Nine standard days ago a team of our scientists detected abnormal signals coming from this sector of the galaxy. The signals had been never been seen before and our scientists suspected they came from some abnormality caused by the Starkiller. Five days ago we captured a Republic’s courier ship which turned out to fly from Hosnian. The pilots were genuinely surprised when told about First Order or the Resistance. Thirty hours ago we reached our current location, and I believe every one of you have seen the… anomaly we found here. Ten minutes ago I was informed research had finished the first report.’ Hux sits and looks at a nervous scientist. The man stands up.

‘My name is Enric Aryss. I was the chief of Physics back at the Starkiller base and now I’m the head of a group of scientists evacuated from Starkiller…’ Hux waves a hand to hurry the man along. ‘We have analyzed signals gathered from the last few days. They’re all identical, now much stronger due to closer distance, similar to readings of black holes but not the same. They’re emitted by what we call “a window”, the golden circle. Its diameter is steadily increasing. Near the window the space distorts and… Well, weird physical things occur, just like near black holes. But black holes completely absorb the light, and the window refracts it in unimaginable ways. Anyway, we have a strong basis to… To believe the window is some kind of wormhole, or portal.’

‘We know the space is wrinkled and shortcuts between two points in space are possible’ Harrington interjects.

‘Right, sir, but it doesn’t explain why we see Hosnian system, destroyed nearly a year ago’ Aryss continues. ‘So we performed multiple tests with light coming from the other side of the window. The results we got deny every hypothesis but one.’ the scientist swallows hard. ‘The multiverse theory.’

Ren inhales sharply, the sound crippled ominously by his mask. Hux grimaces.

‘The multiverse theory is only a scientific figure, impossible to prove because of the limits of human’s instruments,’ the general confronts.

‘Yes, sir, that’s what we were thinking until now, because no one has ever thought of, well, firing a power of a whole star in a minutes into a relatively small point of space. Starkiller must have opened a portal to another reality.’

 _Universe being torn apart_ , Hux remembers. It starts to make sense.

‘It’s possible’ the head of intelligence speaks. Everyone turns to glance at her. ‘We asked the captured pilots a lot of questions, including random ones about history, to calibrate lie detecting instruments. When asked about the Empire, they answered correctly, but with questions about more current events or New Republic their answers were false, but both of them gave the same answers and both of them strongly believed them to be true.’

Silence falls for a few seconds.

‘What are possible consequences?’ Hux asks Aryss.

‘The window grows, and the space around it is unstable. Our predictions vary, but we can only foretell what will happen if two material objects such as whole universes press on each other. In the worst scenario both worlds will implode, everything inside them being destroyed. Possible it will affect other universes in a chain reaction.’

Everyone’s quiet, terrified. Hux can hear Ren’s breath become quick and shallow. He props his forehead on his hands, not to accidentally grab Kylo’s arm.

‘How can we stop it?’ Hux rasps. He desperately needs a glass of water. Or alcohol. 

Aryss hesitates. ‘We assume that the process of expansion can be stopped by an energy, like it was begun. The circle has an irregular shape. Shooting it in a strict algorithm dependent on the shape is likely to stop it.’

‘Will it close the portal?’

‘We can’t be sure about anything.’

Hux lets out a long, wavering sigh. ‘Find the algorithm. We have nothing to lose.’

‘And what if shooting it will cause faster decay?’ Harrington asks, his calm attitude already broken.

‘If the portal remains open we are doomed, sooner or later. Am I wrong?’ Hux looks questioningly at the scientist. The man nods. ‘Get the algorithm. Don’t let anyone panic. We’ll decide what’s next when research gets the code. And-’ Hux turns to the chief of intelligence, ‘wipe those pilots’ memory, put them on their ship and escort them to the portal.’

Everyone but Ren and Hux salutes and leaves the room. Once they’re alone Hux reaches to Ren’s helmet and pulls it off. The knight’s eyes are closed, his breath still shallow. Hux moves stray locks of dark hair behind Kylo’s ear, cautiously surveying his face.

‘Are you okay? You haven’t spoken for a whole meeting’ the general asks.

It takes a few moments before Ren replies, ‘No, it’s not okay.’

‘Do you need drugs, or something else?…’

Ren takes a deep breath and opens his eyes. ‘You know conventional drugs don’t work when the Force is involved. The only help is to close that damn thing. And I…’ he shuts his eyes and rubs his eyelids.

Hux gently grabs Ren’s hands and lays them flat on the table, with his own on top. Kylo glances at them and lifts his gaze at Hux.

‘Tell me what bothers you. Please’ Hux begs.

‘I… it’s the feeling that. It will go wrong. Everything will fall apart’ Ren practically sobs.

Hux listens appalled. He has never seen Ren so broken. Kylo fumed, grumbled and fussed, but he has never despaired like he does know. It can’t be only pain of the universe he is sensing from the open wound in reality, which Hux knows is unbearable.

Hux slowly moves his hands to cup Ren’s face, thumbs caressing cheekbones.

‘I can’t foresee the future’ the general pronounces slowly, looking right in Ren’s dark eyes. ‘But I hope we, or someone else will come here, to solve this. Our world will be whole again. And we… well, we will pursue our goals. Together, Kylo.’

‘You feel responsible’ Kylo states suddenly. ‘Because it was your weapon that caused all of this.’

‘We’re not talking about me right now.’

‘Sorry.’ Ren leans his head back, away from Hux’s hands.

‘Ren, I won’t tell you “everything will be fine”, because it’s not my style. But we have science on our side.’

‘Yeah’ Kylo stands, but before he leaves the room Hux presses the button on the table that locks the door.

‘I need you’ Hux rasps desperately and in a heartbeat his lips are on Ren’s.

*          *

The computer needs two hours to develop the algorithm, which gives Kylo and Hux plenty of time to make out like they were to part and never see each other again.

Both of them appear on the bridge to observe how _Finalizer_ ’s guns deal with the window. The pattern is consisted of exactly 100 shots. After half of it Alyss shyly pokes general.

‘It’s not working’ he says sadly. ‘The energy is too low. But it may be dangerous for _Finalizer_ to get closer.’

‘What about starfighters? Are they small enough? Do they have enough power?’ Hux asks in hope.

‘It can work, but it will be safer to send two of them. Maybe the best if one of them shoot from…’ the scientist pauses. ‘From the other side.’

‘Prepare two TIE fighters and my space suit’ Hux orders.

‘You can’t!’ Ren growls suddenly, everyone present at the bridge jerking. ‘You’ll get stuck on the other side!’

‘I’ll set the fighter in the right place, set the shooting sequence and catapult myself. The whole sequence takes fourteen minutes, it’s enough time to get back on our side before the portal collapses’ Hux explains calmly, though he clenches his teeth. He knows the risk.

‘Then I go in another TIE’ Kylo insists. Hux nods in agreement.

‘Sir, we have fully capable pilots trained to…’ captain Harrington tries to convince him but Hux only raises his hand.

‘I know. But it’s on me, to be there.’

Hux leaves the silent bridge to change the suit. He and Kylo meet again in the docks, where two starfighters await, gleaming in a sinister way. Hux wears the pilot’s black space suit, similar to a TIE pilot’s one, but his helmet is different, with a large visor showing his determined face.

‘Good luck, sir’ Harrington languidly pats general’s arm.

 _May the Force be with you_ , he hears from Ren. It’s interesting, everyone’s wishing the general luck but no one to the knight.

Both men climb into the cockpits, sit and check all systems.

‘Ren, can you hear me?’ Hux asks into comm.

‘It’s Ren, I can hear you well Hux’ the response is immediate.

‘ _Finalizer_ , we hear both well’ traffic control officer confirms.

‘Let’s finish this’ Hux concludes and turns his vessel to the entrance, Ren – small dot on the radar - following him.

The window looks impressive from the viewport, but it’s even more magnificent at a closer look. The golden line glows like a sun, slowly consuming it’s surroundings.

‘So… see you soon’ Hux speaks into the comm. In answer he feels the soft touch of Ren’s consciousness on the back of his mind, the way Kylo says “I’m here”. It gives Hux strength to increase the speed and cross the invisible wall between worlds.

He expects anything – twisting in his guts, like the one during leaving hyperspace, or jolt of energy – but nothing happens. The only sign he’s on the other side is the position of the golden ring, now behind him.

‘I’m there’ Hux reports and turns the fighter around to get into the right place. Once he’s in position, he confirms to the comm: ‘I’m ready.’

‘Me too’, Ren adds.

‘Algorithm is saved on vessels’ drives. You only need to press the firing button once.’ they hear Aryss in the speakers. ‘Get ready and press on my command. Three, two, one… Now!’

Hux punches the button. First shot hits the target, the second, and the third. The fragment of circle at eleven shrinks.

‘It’s working!’ he exclaims happily.

‘Hux, get out of there!’ Kylo snarls in the speaker.

Hux moves his hand on the catapult handle and pulls it firmly.

But nothing happens.

He tries again, but it’s still not working.

‘Hux, what the hell are you waiting for?!’

‘I… It’s stuck’ Hux pulls continuously with no effect. The counter on the screen shows 40 shots left, 8 minutes. He won’t make it before the portal shuts.

Hux watches the steadily decreasing irregular ellipse.

‘Hux!…’

Hux is silent. If he speaks, his wildly drumming heart will jump out of his chest. He needs air.

‘Hux…”

The golden circle shrinks into a golden spot and blows into a shower of golden rays.

There’s only static in the speakers. Kylo’s presence is no longer in his head.

 

*          *          *

 

Ren is meditating. Like he is for the most of last 5 years.

He doesn’t remember the first 24 hours. He was told they needed to use the tractor beam to get his TIE back into _Finalizer_ , because he was circling around shooting aimlessly. Once onboard he was smashing the docks with lightsaber for a full hour. Then he went to his room and cried until he lost consciousness.

He woke up with a plan. To meditate until he found Hux through the Force.

Nothing else has mattered anymore. He stayed in his room when _Finalizer_ was running away from the Resistance fleet that appeared right after closing the portal. He didn’t even flinch when a few days later they were attacked or when Resistance soldiers assaulted the ship and arrested everyone, him included. He stayed in a trance when his mother visited him in prison.

So they let him stay like this. He was given a small room with a bed, cupboard and tiny refresher. It wasn’t a prison cell, but he still was locked – anyway, he wasn’t interested in leaving. Twice a day he partially resurfaces to reality to eat, once a day he takes a shower and shaves. Every three days he spends an hour on workout; he has lost a lot of muscles through those years, but he doesn’t care about his appearance anymore, he only needs to stay alive and healthy enough to continue his search.

Sometimes his mother or uncle visits him, but he doesn’t react. He also doesn’t let anyone disturb him via the Force – Leia, Luke, the scavenger girl or even Snoke – he’s stronger than any one of them. Maybe even than all of them combined. But he needs all of his powers for the task solely.

This continues until one night his comm rings.

At first Kylo thinks he’s hallucinating. This is his personal comm, given to him by Hux over seven years ago; it has only one set of coordinates on the list. It wasn’t confiscated by his captors, and Ren has maintained it continuously and recharged through all these years.

Kylo scrambles up from the bed to the cupboard, extracts the comm from the bottom of the drawer and accepts the call.

Over the appliance hovers a blue holo of Hux. He has changed too: his face is more slender, with skin tight on his cheekbones, there are wrinkles on his forehead and in the corners of tired eyes. His hair is longer, without careful parting, he also has a short beard.

‘Oh. It works’ Hux smiles tiredly.

‘Hux. How.’ Ren is unable to articulate any other word.

‘My ship orbits the supernova using its energy to power the transmitter. It’s similar to Starkiller.’ Hux’s grin widens, but still doesn’t apply to his eyes. ‘I’m burning the sun, Ren. Again. Just to say goodbye.’

Ren chuckles, but it quickly transforms into sobs. ‘How much time do we have?’

‘I’m afraid only a few minutes.’

Kylo lets out another shaky breath that threatens to turn into cry.

‘Where are you? How are you doing?” Hux asks.

‘I, well, I’m in Resistance custody. Or whatever. They caught us quickly, without you. I spend all my time searching for you in the Force.’

Hux sighs and extends his hand to touch Kylo’s image, but he stops himself.

‘How about you?’

‘I earned. Mostly as a smuggler and mercenary. And I planned how to communicate with you. You know, in this world I don’t even exist. The boy killed by Brendol was his rightful son, and I was never born. I don’t have to run away as mass murderer of an entire planet system.’ Ren hums. ‘With the money I bought this ship and equipment, and I found a proper star, and here I am. Sorry it took so long.

‘It’s alright.’ It was Ren’s turn to reach for the holo in vain.

‘In this world, there’s no me, and there’s no Snoke. But Ben Solo exists. He leads the academy for younglings. I think he’s happy.’

‘Do you plan to visit him?’

‘I guess not. He wouldn’t fancy me.’

They both chuckle.

‘Hux. Will we ever see each other again?’ Ren is hardly able to speak with a heart in his throat.

Hux’s stare becomes sadder. ‘No. It‘s the only tiny gap between our worlds left, and it will close soon too.’

Kylo sobs again and this time tears flow from his eyes untamed.

‘I~ I love you Hux. I can’t live without you.’

‘Oh, I know you can. You’re the strongest man I’ve ever met.’ Hux looks right into Kylo’s eyes. ‘I believe it’s the last chance for me to say it. Kylo Ren–-‘

Hologram fades. Hux soundlessly finishes the sentence. His cheeks are wet.

**Author's Note:**

> There will be continuation.


End file.
